Graduation Weekend

Line from Jehanne Dubrow

"perhaps all goodbyes should whisper like a piece of silk--"

Early Memory

by January Gill O'Neil

I remember picking up a fistful
of sand, smooth crystals, like hourglass sand
and throwing it into the eyes of a boy. Johnny
or Danny or Kevin—he was not important.
I was five and I knew he would cry.

I remember everything about it—
the sandbox in the corner of the room
at Cinderella Day Care; Ms. Lee,
who ran over after the boy wailed for his mother,
her stern look as the words No snack formed on her lips.
My hands with their gritty, half-mooned fingernails
I hid in the pockets of my blue and white dress.
How she found them and uncurled small sandy fists.

There must have been such rage in me, to give such pain
to another person. This afternoon,
I saw a man pull a gold chain off the neck
of a woman as she crossed the street.
She cried out with a sound that bleached me.
I walked on, unable to help,
knowing that fire in childhood
clenched deep in my pockets all the way home.

Self-Posession

Let Us Go Then

by Ciaran Carson

through the trip
wired minefield

hand in hand
eyes for nothing

but ourselves
alone

undaunted by
the traps & pits

of wasted land
until

you stoop & pluck
a stem of eyebright

Random Shots

The following have been compiled over a month or so. Short explanations to follow.

- A/M

Cyrus visited, again, and again, and again. Adam took days off to go disc golfing and drink beer by the lake, and loved it.


It's hard to see, but he's actually peeing THROUGH his boxer-briefs, just after plunging into a frigid Lake Tahoe.


Adam's day-to-day activities involve these hoodlums...

and these -

Mariya, getting weird post-sunset.


Sand Harbor -








"Elevated" jump session at home (look at how wonderfully cheesy their smiles are) -


After this one, Mariya crashed into the wall, smiling.


Deva, preparing for her Colorado art show -


Setchko, getting Oregon'd out at Emerald Bay -


Eli, getting spliff'd out at Emerald Bay -


The following pictures were from a disposable camera that we purchased while road tripping to the Rose Bowl. Some of the photos are from that time, and some are from when we returned home.

Adam and Megan, pre-Rose Bowl -


Cole and Emma, beach volleyball -


Mariya and Emma, all smiles and sun in January -


Look closely at this one: the sign says "Caution: Snakes." It was a random, middle-of-nowhere roadside gas station. Mariya disappeared for 10 minutes while I was fueling the gas, prompting me to run around searching for her, maybe, I thought, inside a snake's belly.


Late night hangout in our room, following Eli's (standing) birthday -


Shotgunning beers in the strange, hot tub room in our garage -


Mariya got wet. Lucas had a mustache.

Darcy, a birthday beauty with a blue tongue -

The end.

Despite a late March snowstorm, the sun is returning to Tahoe and we'll soon be out enjoying it. We'll keep you all posted. Much love -